“Writer’s” Block
In actuality it is more like Technician’s Block, but that isn’t a common phrase. I’ve been fighting with my new laptop ever since I loaded the proprietary video drivers that killed my ability to log in. I must have installed and/or re-installed various Linuxes a dozen times now, without getting back to fully functional. I’ve now spent way too much time rebuilding the operating system on the laptop, and resigned to wiping the whole thing and starting over, with a little partition tweaking for possible future excursions into dual booting later.
Yes, that means I re-installed Windows 7. I’m actually pretty disappointed in myself and lack of ability to rewind what should have been a simple driver install. Makes me wish I had a dev-team that was working specifically for me, with guys who could take apart the different aspects of Linux and see exactly where the problems ended up and fix them… but I don’t.
Wishes and horses and beggars and riding off into the sunset.
(meant to publish this on 1/16, ended up saving it as a draft instead)
Happy New Year!
The end of December is always a busy time. I had a decent Christmas and a good New Year’s Eve celebration. Due to the loss of things I need on a regular basis at the very beginning of the month, my gifting output wasn’t nearly as generous as I had originally intended, and I even ended up being late sending gifts to my children while waiting for funds. But, in all, it was a good end of year.
The new laptop I bought as a replacement for the new laptop that was stolen is a $40 step up, because I wanted a better graphics system. I also departed from my long-term relationship with Toshiba for this, as Toshiba did not have an offering in this price range that had other-than-Intel graphics. And while it is a step up in internal specs, the screen size is back down to the 15.6″ ‘normal’ laptop size, which makes it easier to pack and weighs less.
Due to my frustrations with Ubuntu 11.10 on the last laptop, I decided to check out some other possible options for a Linux to dual-boot with. The closest I’ve been able to come to comfortable, so far, is Kubuntu (11.10). I want a recent, supported, and frequently updated operating system, partly so that my hardware support will improve as time goes on, partly to make sure I don’t have security issues, and partly because I would rather not get left behind.
However, in the process of trying out Linuxes (Lini? Linui?), I managed to kill the Windows 7 boot ability, now has “BOOTMGR is missing” error, and I installed the AMD ATI Display driver specific to my laptop’s video system, which broke KDE’s ability to log in. I still don’t get that, but I’m not alone with that problem, so maybe it’ll get fixed. Meanwhile, I installed Gnome on Kubuntu (yeah, I know)¹ to be able to use the computer at least a little.
Had a thought that maybe I should find a copy of Windows98, just to see how fast that would run on new hardware (my guess would be semi-pre-cognative), and it couldn’t me more work than I’ve already been doing.
¹* Kubuntu is a version of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop instead of the Gnome desktop, so installing Gnome basically undoes a large part of the philosophy and intent of Kubuntu.
Technofun
I just succeeded in: obtaining a domain name, configuring it to point to my webserver, configuring my webserver to service it, creating a database for it, and installing (and updating) WordPress, and blogging about it… from my phone!
Who needs a laptop? Lol
Though I will admit it would have taken half the time if I had done it on a laptop or other full computer, but that is mostly due to screen size and keyboard size. Can’t type nearly as fast with just thumbs, ya know? Also, the phone doesn’t have a provision to send “tab”, which is a darn handy speedup for Linux command line work. Yes, this makes me ponder writing (or adjusting if it is open-source) an SSH terminal client for better function.
I will say that WordPress’ WYSIWYG editor doesn’t mesh perfectly with the default Android browser, and I no longer see an easy way to get the old simple editor that I used from the phone in 3.0.1. Oh well, nothing is perfect. The main issue is the scrolling of the edit box and the workings of the cursor keys: often at the bottom of the box, the content will fail to scroll to show the cursor, and using the arrow keys will move out of the box to other webpage controls like links or the checkboxes for categories, instead of simply updating the scroll-state of the edit box. This happened before with the WYSIWYG editor, but not with the simple html one.
Robbed
I really hate theft.
They broke my car window and stole my backpack, the one I take to work. It had my work laptop and wireless broadband card I use for work daily. It also had my new personal laptop, the one I was just saying was so great except for the Ubuntu thing. Plus it had the keys to my desk at work, my clipboard with my Wine Expo tickets for January, my business cards, my external backup drive, my USB to SATA/IDE adapter, spare power cords for my phones, my aluminum ingot I made from the first aluminum melt I did alone.
I’m pissed, I feel violated and betrayed and broken. This digs deep into what is me, grabs what I hold as my solid moral foundation and shakes it HARD. Why should I be a nice guy if all I get for it back from the world is crap like this? Why should I follow the rules if nobody else does? Why shouldn’t I use my intellect to scam people out of money if all the honest gains I make just get smashed and taken? Why should I help anybody? Why should I explain anything to the idiots I work with any given day? Why should I care at all? After all, if I don’t care about anything, nobody can smash or steal anything I care about.
Why should I even leave my room? I can lock the door and they can’t touch me or my stuff.
Yeah, that one’s bullshit. Sorry, just venting. I’m just so … argh, there really isn’t a word for it. agridepresannpisfrusthurtbetrabroken
Spent 15 minutes on hold for a police dispatcher before giving up and driving home. Called my insurance but they weren’t there, the recording said I could file online, but my LAPTOP WAS GONE. I’ll call them again tomorrow. Somebody better be there then.
Ubuntu 11.10 Woes
I only upgraded one system to 11.10: my new laptop. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite P775-S7215, beautiful piece of hardware and technically the most powerful computer I have access to. It dual-boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu since the day I bought it (or maybe the next day, but setting up dual boot was the first thing I did with it). Being me, I run it in Ubuntu mode most of the time, and once I switched Ubuntu 11.04 to classic mode so it felt more like 10.10, I was happy with it. No problems seen.
Then Ubuntu 11.10 comes out and the update tool keeps nagging that there’s a new version and I finally cave and install, on one machine to test it out.
I’m not happy with it.
I was never happy with Unity, the new version is a tiny bit better but I still felt that 1> the organization system doesn’t fit my pattern of use, 2> the organization system is not customizable to my pattern of use, and 3> the Unity system as a whole has too few customization options for me. So I switched to Gnome again…
It isn’t as good as it used to be. I couldn’t re-arrange things as easily as before, I’ve never liked the bar at the bottom with the buttons, I’ve always combined all the Gnome bars into one at the top of the screen. I still look at the top of the screen for the running programs before remembering that it wouldn’t let me move it. Right-click did nothing, dragging with either right or left mouse did nothing. Nothing is listed in the settings for customization. After weeks of either dealing with it or looking for solutions but not finding them, I finally found out that ALT-CLICK is how to get to these customization options that used to be just clicks.
Now, finally, it is starting to feel better, except for the graphics glitches. Months of no-glitch performance with 11.04, now certain 3d apps have tons of lines and speckles. Ok, yes, it is Minecraft that I am specifically speaking about. I upgraded Java, but the glitches didn’t change. So now I’m looking for a graphics driver, but there aren’t really any, everything points to “the included drivers”. So, no fix for it.
So, I loved Ubuntu from 8.04 to 11.04, and now I’m looking for another Linux. A co-worker recommended Linux Mint, which I like the name of as a play on the term “flavor of Linux”.
Monday Update
Since it is an office day, I’m not locked into explaining things to someone (not that I mind, I like my job), nor am I stuck in traffic (ok, that part I mind), so I can do things like catch up on paperwork and post to my blog.
I got a root canal last week, fixed that toothache problem, though I have another appointment to get a crown on Wednesday. Cost about $1800 before insurance, $300 out of pocket, but that includes the build-up and crown, so not bad at all.
This weekend we pressed the wine off the grapes for the 2011 red wines. Lots of scooping with buckets, rinsing barrels, filling barrels from ladders (unflattering picture of me doing just that on Facebook, need to actually start working out again), and dealing with kinked, broken, and leaky hoses (and one leaky barrel). The scooping is the part that has left the most of the residual aches, I think, but it is all good. The wine is young, but we have high hopes for it in the coming years as it matures into Good Wine. And, the best part, we are done for the season with the big heavy manual labor weekends!
That means that one of these weekends soon I may be able to make a barrel of mead! Though, now that I think about it, there aren’t any barrels left, so it’ll be a TANK of mead! Heh, probably the same amount will be made, even though the tank has enough capacity for about 3 barrels, I don’t think that will be within the budget for what amounts to an experiment, from a Winery’s perspective. Later when many bottles of mead are sold, we can make much more. 
Toothache
I’ve developed a toothache over the weekend, with the deep sense of dread that brings with it. The pain seems centered on a crown I got last year. The dread comes not from the torture chair with jaw unhinging contraptions and hours of discomfort, no. I’m not afraid of doctors or dentists, generally the pain they directly cause makes future pain not happen. I’m afraid of doctor or dentist BILLS. I maxed my insurance last year getting that crown in the first place, and had to arrange a payment plan for about $1000 above what was covered. Am I going to have to do that again? CLOSER to the holidays this year?
So, yeah, not really on top of my game at the moment.
On the better side of things, Lightheart Cellars had a good weekend. We got the pickbins and macrobins that we are finished with for the season stacked for storage. The tasting tent took a thrashing from the wind, but we’ve got it back in usable shape. The heaters were a hit for both appearance and, of course, heat. And as usual fun and interesting people stopped by and partook of good wines and had good times. Can’t really ask for more when you are doing the wine tasting thing.
The Show that could be…
I’ve been thinking lately, again, about making the Well Rounded Geek Show a reality. I’ve already got the domains, and multiple devices capable of recording decent quality video, and even a YouTube account connected to an Adsense account. I had a major setback last year, as the episode list and initial script-work was on a laptop that got stolen, and I let that stall the project.
But I still think it is a good idea, and I’m sure it will benefit some people. It might become a sensation, but even a few dozen regular watchers or a single episode that ends up the go-to explanation for something, makes it worth doing. A plain-English explanation of DNS is the planned first episode, but I’ve got several things to put together before that’ll be available.
…and where should I film it?
Loss of an Internet Friend
I have a problem with books, as in I tend to be a bookaholic… I’ll pick up a book and not do anything (unless necessary for survival) until I’ve finished it (often including skipping sleep). So, for several years, to maintain productivity, I’ve avoided books. But I missed the stories, thinking about characters and motivations and other worlds and other universes, so I found something safer: web fiction.
You see, I can’t get stuck in that, “Just one more chapter” cycle if the next chapter hasn’t been written yet. Web fiction allows me to indulge while forcing me to pace myself. There are thousands of stories out there, but only a few are well written and well thought out. One of my go-to stories has been Tattoo.
One of the cooler aspects of web fiction is comments and author contact. I would often post typo corrections and help with various other editing tasks, for which Candace was often appreciative. We would have short discussions at the end of each new chapter, when I was keeping up. I always felt welcomed and had a feeling that we were some level of friends.
Candace Mcbride, aka Harmony0stars, and various other web names, died overnight between Saturday October 8th and Sunday October 9th, from what I’ve heard was a blood clot that blocked her lungs. As far as I could dig, that’s the best I could find, though I found one other tidbit that scares me: she was born in 1974, same year as me. Brings it home.
I’ll miss her, her passion, her imagination, her banter. The world is a little colder without her.
Been quite a while…
Yeah, my usual blogging/journaling/recordkeeping skills show again. Thanks to the new users signing up I’ve been more nagged than usual to actually DO something here, so here I am doing something.
This summer was most excellent. The kids came and we went to South Dakota for the 4th of July, took scenic routes, stopped at Devil’s Tower (think Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind), stopped at WallDrug, checked out a goldmine, then drove over to Yellowstone National Park and saw a bounty of natural wonder that could fill more pages than I could type and still not properly describe it all. If you get a chance, go. While there we saw Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, bathed in the hot springs north of the park. Then we drove to the Great Salt Lake and swam/floated in it. Really nifty feeling, you just kinda float with no effort. I was floating, not touching the bottom, in about 10 inches of water. So buoyant I couldn’t sit on the bottom in 2 feet of water. We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats, where the salt acts like snow, sticking to shoes and you could have a salt-ball fight, not that you should.
The only real geeky thing I did in all of this is use my Driod to record some timelapse movies. I want to do some minor editing and add background music before posting them, but it is kinda fun to watch a several hour drive in a couple minutes. Maybe I’ll get to that editing sometime.
My daughter dropped her laptop and broke the screen, so we ended up shuffling laptops around and I got a new one. Technically more powerful than my desktop machine, but the Minecraft framerate still sucks, and I can’t stand playing first-person anything with a touchpad, anyway. Pretty easily got it to dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 (switched to “Classic” because I couldn’t stand the lack of control in Unity). But back to the dropped laptop: everything else works perfectly, which means that it is a perfect candidate for another kind of project…
Like building an R2-D2.
Not that I have the time or space at the moment, but I’ve been reading about others who have built their own R2 units and… wow that looks like fun. Of course, I’d want mine to have some level of autonomous function. I mean really, the second thing people are going to say is, “What can it do?” (The first obviously being something like: “COOL!”). Most of the R2s out there are remote controlled, but I’ve got a modern laptop with tons of processing power, memory, a webcam I can salvage from the screen and hide just about anywhere on the droid as a sensor, wifi, and usb ports for other peripherals and sensors. With one usb port I can talk to an Arduino for all sorts of lights and sounds and sensors and motors for doors and arms and gadgets and gizmos.
The R2 idea actually came to me when I was looking at a used wine barrel at my parent’s winery (Lightheart Cellars) and I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to have a Wine2-D2?
Geek Sundays only happened three times over the summer, with the regular hosts having a baby I don’t blame them. I wish I had the space to invite the crowd over instead of the just empty time, but I don’t. I’m also not completely sure I’d have the time, since my weekends are very often spent at the winery, but that’s because it is now pick/crush season, and that season is just about over now.
At the winery this weekend we crushed and pressed 2 tons of grapes, then racked all the one-year-old reds to new barrels. We ended up with a leaky barrel and had to pump back out of it into a temporary barrel, to replace the barrel and pump back into it… but then the new barrel leaked worse than the first one, so we had to do it all again. Even an empty barrel weighs close to 100 pounds, so the whole process added about 2 hours to the end of the day. Walking Monday was difficult.
I’ve also got a few batches of mead brewing at the moment. One classic mead, no flavors. One winter mead with cinnamon and cloves and vanilla and a bit of orange (smelled SO GOOD when we were boiling that!). And two little batches, one pear and one peach. The strawberry mead that I made earlier in the year is getting better with age, which is a bonus since I was seriously calling it a failure and on more than one occasion seriously considered just dumping it. As it ages it is losing it’s bitter notes and gaining some strawberry flavor it didn’t have after fermentation. One of these days I’ll get the right people in the right place to get the right information to start making mead for sale.
Overall, good summer. Only thing I’d change is maybe blogging about it more while it all happened.